I cover breaking market news and, separately, personal finance for millennials. Got my training on the beat from TODAY show financial editor Jean Chatzky along with my own cornucopia of student loans. They say the best way to learn is by doing, and when it comes to this exercise in student debt, I’m a (reluctant) doer. Penn alum, Philly-area native, millennial-defending millennial.

Susquehanna analyst Brian Nowak upgraded Expedia from a neutral to a positive and raised its price target from $79 per share to $91 per share, saying that the company — which is currently trading in the $77 range — has received Street valuations that are 3% to 4% lower than they should be, and that upward revisions should drive upcoming out-performance. Part of this out-performance, Nowak explains in a new note, will come from Expedia’s Travelocity and Trivago businesses.

“It’s no secret Travelocity will contribute inorganically in 2014, but the size of the contribution is being under-appreciated. Our latest industry conversations indicate Travelocity’s traffic conversion is materially improving since migrating over to Expedia platform,” Nowak writes, adding that he expects a 4% lift in Travelocity revenue per user that will lead to the addition of $68 million in EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) for Expedia in 2014.

With regard to Trivago, Nowak is taking an even more bullish stance, pointing to the site’s 85% year-over-year traffic increase and noting that Trivago’s ad spend is low but conversion is comparable to other sites, so return-on-investment is high. “As such, increased bidding competition and pricing should drive even faster Trivago growth. This, combined with the site’s high incremental margins, will lead to $48 million of EBITDA in 2014 and $88 million in 2015,” he said.

In other words: Expedia will profit from its subsidiaries abilities to convert visitors to paid dollars

As a result of Nowak’s analysis, the Susquehanna forecast is that Expedia will post $1.4 billion in second quarter 2014 revenue, with earnings coming in at 78 cents per share — not the 76 cents per share that the Street is predicting. Looking ahead to the company’s full-year results, the Susquehanna outlook calls for $5.6 billion in revenue and full-year adjusted earnings of $3.94 per share, up 3% from the $3.83 consensus estimate.

Meanwhile, UBSUBS initiated coverage on Expedia competitor Orbitz with an equally bullish outlook: lead analyst Eric Sheridan gave the company a $10 price target (it currently trades around $8.50 a share) and a buy rating because it “provides investors with exposure to a leading player in the domestic online travel market, with a long runway ahead for its hotel business, particularly given the recent introduction of a new loyalty rewards program.”

Noting that Orbitz is the smallest of the three big online travel agencies (with Priceline and Expedia being the other two, of course) but the second-largest domestic player, Sherdian said that there are opportunities abroad for Orbitz to grow in its business-to-business operations, like Orbitz for Business and the Orbitz partner network.

“We believe Orbitz has a long runway ahead outside of its core domestic market,” Sheridan said in the note, singling out Orbitz for Business, which he said offers lower overall costs to corporate businesses and sees a higher incidence of online usage compared to competitors. ”Specifically, during 2013, roughly 21% of bookings came from the international business, up from 16% in 2010, and we forecast international bookings approaching 25% or more over the next 3 to 5 years,” he said.

Sherdian and Nowak’s comments stand in contrast to analyst commentary on Priceline’s OpenTable acquisition: Following the announcement last week, Citi’s Mark May said that “it makes sense” for Priceline to broaden out its travel-related offerings. Morningstar analyst Chad Mollman said that the move helps Priceline because it “can bolster its network effect by giving its hotels, airlines, and other travel providers the ability to cross-market to a wider number of potential customers.” Expedia and Orbitz, meanwhile, stand to benefit from growing and improving their existing businesses, not by expanding into an entirely new market.

Following Susequehanna’s upgrade and UBS’ bullish coverage initiation, shares of Expedia and Orbitz were both enjoying gains in Tuesday trading, with Expedia up 3.7% and Orbitz popping 4.7%. Priceline, meanwhile, is down 0.6% in early afternoon trading. Year-to-date, it’s Orbitz that has performed the best: the stock is up more than 14% since January 2, compared to Expedia’s 8% gain and Priceline’s 5% bump.

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